Going Off Grid in East Tennessee; The Story and Chat Thread (cabins, move to)

[billy wood]

spring my season of hope i went up to my property and checked all the fruit trees plus planted more . everything is fat and ready to burst open . hope this next cold snap don.t bite to hard.there is a mennonite group in mcminn county and they have the best produce worth the drive they should be harvesting soon. the pictures of the turkeys are great. the moon is full and the clouds are flying by good day to be alive.

[Forest Breath]

Originally Posted by billy wood

there is a mennonite group in mcminn county and they have the best produce worth the drive they should be harvesting soon.

I am almost certain the market opens the first weekend in April. They generally have cold weather crops at first and some plants/trees and of course the crafty items. They also have the jam/jelly/sorghum and such that did not sell last Fall. The animal market is open one weekend a month.

[Jezer]

Thanks for the link Lisa!

This looks really interesting as I'm interested in eco houses.

What a fantastic setting.

[swbtoo]

Lisa, I recently discovered yours and Mike's story here...am still trying to read through all of it...how lovely, how breathtaking the view, the whole undertaking. You are so lucky to be able to do this. Wish we were younger and had the energy and strength to undertake something like this. I'm sure there are many who wish they could, but can't. Will you hold a huge hillside party for all of us so we can come visit and enjoy sharing your joy in your dream-come-true?

Thanks for posting all the great shots, and the progress reports. Makes me feel like I'm right there with you! It's been fun watching you work. Blessings to you both in your new home!

[AllenKarber]

I just found this post and I must say that Lisa and Mike have a beautiful homestead!

[ylisa7]

Thank you everyone for writing in and welcome to all the newcomers. Have a great weekend.

Originally Posted by cncguy2000

did you get the wind generator poles fixed?
I was thinking about a old telephone pole. you might be able to get one cheap.
they should hold up well.

Mike decided against a telephone pole now because it would be too hard for us to fix if anything went wrong. Once we have the drive and parking complete it will be paved and Mike doesn't want any track hoes on our pavement in the future. So now Mike has to come up with a pole idea that we will be able to take down without any machines. We won't be fixing/changing the pole until we move the other building to this property.

[Grizzlybear34]

Lisa - Your profile picture is absolutely stunning! It looks like a Norman Rockwell shot. I think awhile back you were thinking about some art for the house, and the discussion went about taking some shots at different times of the year. That would be a perfect winter shot. I remember there was also talk about a flyover shot of your home and land.

Did you ever decide on what you were going to do with art? I might have missed it. Take care and keep it up!

Grizz

[shadowwalker]

That looks great. Hope it's all you want in a place to live.

[shadowwalker]

If your wanting to add to your fruit trees. I'd say to read up on propagaiting. I did and added alot to our property at almost free costs. Maybe you could then take cuttings from friends and neighbors like I did. Check out nut trees and berry bushes too.

[ylisa7]

Good morning everyone. It is almost Spring. Woo hoo. This week started out as great as last week ended.

Monday 3-9
This morning Mike and I decided to go over and do the Spring cleaning at our other property. We have to repair some fencing, clean up dead trees, pick up garbage and any fallen branches. First thing we do is load up the trailer with all of our tools. Next we stop at our dirt pile on this property and fill some buckets.

Here I am filling some buckets with dirt.



We get to the other property and take a slow ride around the perimeter of the property. We tightened some loose wire on the fence, we picked up some trash, and we also picked up branches. Each year the clean up on this property gets easy and easier. Our first real stop is at the fence that is along the side of the road.

The fence that needs to be repaired.


Mike and I untangled all three wires, pulled then tight with the stretcher, and stapled the wires to the pole.

The fence is fixed.


Here is a view from the back of this property.


It's a beautiful piece and I would love to combine this property with our new property. That would be an incredible piece of property.

I walked over to say hello to our neighbors. This little guy is Twister.


And his best friend.


They are pretty cute for a "horse and a half".

Here is another view from the back of our property and you can just barely see the back ponds off to the right.



Next we drove to the front of the property and started looking for any dead trees. Mike and I tried planting 3 different kinds of trees on this property and the ones that do the best are the Leyland Cypress. I wish we knew that the first year of planting, lol.

Here I am digging out a dead Hemlock.


We have two dead Frasier Firs that we have to pull out. We get to the first one and instead of digging it Mike hooks one end of a chain around the tree and the other end to the trailer.


While I hold the chain tight, so it doesn't slip off the trailer, Mike gets in the jeep and slowly pulls forward.

The tree is out.


Once the tree is out of the ground I start filling in the hole with the dirt we brought from our other property.

We come across one more Frasier and do the same thing. Off to the next task. We had a tree that fell into the pond over the winter so we need to get it out and clean up. Mike gets out the chain saw and starts cutting.


Once it is all cut up we load everything onto the trailer and strap it down.


We will dump all this debris onto our burn pile at the new property.

On our way home we stop at the building supply for more concrete(Quickrete) bags. Now we have work for tomorrow.

Later that day we got a cool picture of some of the Turkeys "fanning" out.



Tuesday 3-10
It's another beautiful day. Today we went down to our entrance gate to replace the pole and wire on the opposite side of the one we did the other day.

This is the original pole and fencing.


We cut all the wire on the pole and the old fencing. Then we knock all the old boards down. Next we hook one end of the chain around the pole and the other end of the chain to the tractor bucket and pull it out.

The old post is out.



Then we use the heavy bar and the post hole digger to make the hole a little bigger and deeper. Next I start mixing the concrete using the creek water.



Next Mike puts the new pole into the ground, which he has already cut down, and he makes sure it is level and straight. Then I start shoveling the concrete into the hole. We used 160 pounds of concrete in this hole. This post shouldn't go anywhere.

Here is mike adding on more wire. This is just a temporary fix until we can come down with the stretcher after the concrete is hard..



We are done until the concrete sets.



Later that day we load up the tractor with some shovels and go to check out our culvert. The culvert is starting to fill up again.


Here is what I call my side because I always end up working on this side of the culvert.


This is Mike's side.



We shoveled out one tractor bucket full of mud. Next time we go to the dump we are going to ask the guys there if we can borrow a tire. With a tire, rebar, and some chain we should be able to clear this culvert. Now if the weather holds we can get this job done.

We picked up rocks and loaded them into the bucket.


We made a small dam above the culvert in hopes that the dirt/mud would back up here instead of clogging the culvert. It would be much easier to clean the mud out here.



Wednesday and Thursday-
The cold weather is back. I am so happy we got as much work done as we did these past few days.

Friday 3-13
Another cold day so Mike and I went into the "big" town to pick up supplies for him to work on the motor home. I think we are better off staying at home. It seems like every time we go to town we spend a small fortune.

Saturday 3-14
Oh yuk it's cold and raining. Nothing to do but clean the house.

Sunday 3-15
It rained all night and through the morning but at least it is warming up. Here is a cool picture of the fog rolling in.



After the rain stopped we went over to help Nicole install and plumb her new kitchen sink. She is remodeling her kitchen on her own and she is doing a great job. She is just like her father.


Well that was our week. Hopefully the weather will stay warm and we can get a lot of work done. Our list seems endless but it won't be as hard as last summer, lol. I hope you all enjoyed our story. Have a great week and I will write again next Monday.

Lisa